Watch: Sprinklers interrupt wild inning between Indians, Athletics
It’s hot. The field needed to cool off: https://t.co/fB7nYyX61m pic.twitter.com/gOrRuUF1QS
— MLB (@MLB) June 1, 2017
In an already wild sixth inning between the Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians, the Progressive Field sprinklers came on to provide a truly exceptional frame of weird baseball Thursday.
Whether it's the weirdest moment of the inning, though, you can be the judge. This all began with Cleveland up 1-0 and Athletics pitcher Jharel Cotton on the mound:
| Player | Outcome | WPA |
|---|---|---|
| Erik Gonzalez | single to center | .032 |
| Jason Kipnis | walk - Gonzalez to 2B | .047 |
| Francisco Lindor | reaches on a sac bunt with error by 3B Ryon Healy - Gonzalez to 3B - Kipnis to 2B | .057 |
| Michael Brantley | walk - Gonzalez scores - Kipnis to 3B - Lindor to 2B | .053 |
| Carlos Santana | single to left - Kipnis scores - Lindor to 3B - Brantley to 2B | .032 |
| Jose Ramirez | reaches on fielder's choice - Lindor out at home - Brantley to 3B - Santana to 2B | -0.19 |
| Bradley Zimmer | reaches on fielder's choice - Brantley and Santana out at home - Ramirez to 3B | .009 |
| Athletics manager Bob Melvin challenges Zimmer safe at 1B - call stands - Zimmer safe | ||
| Indians manager Terry Francona challenges Santana out at home - call overturned - Santana scores | ||
| Bradley Zimmer | advances to 2B on passed ball | .001 |
| Daniel Robertson | reaches on error by 3B Ryon Healy - Ramirez scores | .021 |
| SPRINKLERS COME ON | ||
| John Axford replaces Cotton |
(Win Probability Added courtesy: FanGraphs)
That's two errors by Ryon Healy in one inning - and Carlos Santana's shallow fly to left almost definitely should have been caught, but a fielder wasn't close enough to charge an error. Never mind a pair of challenges as a result of the same play, both of which went against the A's.
If only FanGraphs measured the WPA of sprinklers ...